Outhouse Editor

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

Garbage Collector

This week’s review group selection is Invincible #60. This issue is a "done-in-one crossover event" with Spawn, Witchblade and an onslaught of other Image superheroes making appearances. In this issue we see the return of Angstrom Levy who brings with him an army of Invincible's evil counterparts from alternate dimensions.

There is an almost over-powering amount of characters in this issue, and to someone not having a solid knowledge of the Image universe could get lost very easily. That being said the issue can still be enjoyed for what it’s trying to do, “a done in one cross over event”. I do however feel like this could have benefited from either being a two-parter or maybe an original graphic novel that tagged onto the ongoing storyline. There was a lot to take in, and I for one would have loved to have seen this storyline dragged out a little; see some of the individual battles, make some of the deaths a little more meaningful, etc.

Angstrom Levy cements himself as a formidable enemy in this issue, and Kid Omni Man points out an interesting observation; “you thought you’d already killed him, if you had this wouldn’t have happened. It’ll be interesting to see if that takes a toll on Mark in the upcoming months.
Ryan Ottley and Cliff Rathburn do an amazing job bringing this issue to life. The daunting task of creating twenty incarnations of the one superhero is pulled off flawlessly. Not to mention having to draw the multitude of other characters we see making an appearance in this issue. The Day three and Day four panels were incredible and spoke volumes with no words necessary.

This wasn’t my favourite issue of invincible by far, but it was a great gimmick and I hope it brought a few new-comers to this book. Next month we’re in for it as we pick up the pieces in issue 61.

Story – 6.5
Art - 8
Overall – 7.25

Favourite part: Madman trying to strangle one of the alternate Invincible’s with his yo-yo.

Garbage Collector

This week’s review group selection is Invincible #60. This issue is a "done-in-one crossover event" with Spawn, Witchblade and an onslaught of other Image superheroes making appearances. In this issue we see the return of Angstrom Levy who brings with him an army of Invincible's evil counterparts from alternate dimensions.

There is an almost over-powering amount of characters in this issue, and to someone not having a solid knowledge of the Image universe could get lost very easily. That being said the issue can still be enjoyed for what it’s trying to do, “a done in one cross over event”. I do however feel like this could have benefited from either being a two-parter or maybe an original graphic novel that tagged onto the ongoing storyline. There was a lot to take in, and I for one would have loved to have seen this storyline dragged out a little; see some of the individual battles, make some of the deaths a little more meaningful, etc.

Angstrom Levy cements himself as a formidable enemy in this issue, and Kid Omni Man points out an interesting observation; “you thought you’d already killed him, if you had this wouldn’t have happened. It’ll be interesting to see if that takes a toll on Mark in the upcoming months.
Ryan Ottley and Cliff Rathburn do an amazing job bringing this issue to life. The daunting task of creating twenty incarnations of the one superhero is pulled off flawlessly. Not to mention having to draw the multitude of other characters we see making an appearance in this issue. The Day three and Day four panels were incredible and spoke volumes with no words necessary.

This wasn’t my favourite issue of invincible by far, but it was a great gimmick and I hope it brought a few new-comers to this book. Next month we’re in for it as we pick up the pieces in issue 61.

Story – 6.5
Art - 8
Overall – 7.25

Favourite part: Madman trying to strangle one of the alternate Invincible’s with his yo-yo.

Twenty-Something

I was expecting big things with this one and although the story didn't quite live up to those expectations I did enjoy the book. I'll go ahead and also echo some of what other people are saying in that this should have been at the very least a few issues long. I would have preferred they had gone the crossover route since there was so much that I think we missed out on. The issue hyped up a big crossover with tons of guest appearances but hardly any of those characters had any significant 'screen time'. If you read the letters page Kirkman himself said that this might have played out better as a big crossover and even gave credit to other companies who constantly have to organize these things and how hard they really are. Kirkman is a big supporter of indy stuff but what I like about him is he also gives credit where it's due. The art however is where this issue excelled. This is one of the best drawn issues of Invincible that I've seen in quite some time and some of these panels had so much going on and everything lived up to a high quality. The cover is a great cover and the interiors (including the coloring) was excellent. This issue failed to live up to my lofty expectations but is still going to receive a favorable score as I did get enough enjoyment out of it.

Twenty-Something

I was expecting big things with this one and although the story didn't quite live up to those expectations I did enjoy the book. I'll go ahead and also echo some of what other people are saying in that this should have been at the very least a few issues long. I would have preferred they had gone the crossover route since there was so much that I think we missed out on. The issue hyped up a big crossover with tons of guest appearances but hardly any of those characters had any significant 'screen time'. If you read the letters page Kirkman himself said that this might have played out better as a big crossover and even gave credit to other companies who constantly have to organize these things and how hard they really are. Kirkman is a big supporter of indy stuff but what I like about him is he also gives credit where it's due. The art however is where this issue excelled. This is one of the best drawn issues of Invincible that I've seen in quite some time and some of these panels had so much going on and everything lived up to a high quality. The cover is a great cover and the interiors (including the coloring) was excellent. This issue failed to live up to my lofty expectations but is still going to receive a favorable score as I did get enough enjoyment out of it.

Staff Writer

Wow, just wow. Kirman really hit on all points and this was a really packed issue. Plenty of characters get some spotlight and not all the invincibles live up to their names. Sadly due to the war we lose some characters in surprising ways. The art is top notch as usual and it proves to be one of the best hero books on the stands.

I give it a solid 9, point off for doing some scenes like final crisis where stuff happens off panel.

Staff Writer

Wow, just wow. Kirman really hit on all points and this was a really packed issue. Plenty of characters get some spotlight and not all the invincibles live up to their names. Sadly due to the war we lose some characters in surprising ways. The art is top notch as usual and it proves to be one of the best hero books on the stands.

I give it a solid 9, point off for doing some scenes like final crisis where stuff happens off panel.

Outhouse Editor

I've never really been able to get into Invincible. Well, Robert Kirkman in general, actually. I can't say I've given Invincible more than a quick glance. I was recommended the first trade and told that I wouldn't be able to put it down and would devour the rest of the series but I never got that. It wasn't terrible, It wasn't awesome. There were some good scenes but there was also some sort of disconnect in the work that just didn't click with me. I always meant to give the second trade a try but it never really seemed that pressing.

So, I skip ahead to issue sixty. The good news is that I knew some of the characters from that first trade. The art has taken a massive step up. The story... meh. It's ambitious, that's for certain, but when your guest stars outnumber your page count, you're going to have trouble. Trouble there is a plenty. Many times I thought I must have skipped a page because events didn't flow into the next event at all. I still have no clue what motivated Invincible to act at the end. He went from being determined to be at his girl's side to all up in the bad guy's grill with no inbetween state (unless I actually DID skip a page). The guest stars are mostly page fillers and that's fine with me. I truthfully didn't know who were homegrown heroes and who were other Image characters in some instances. That's more because I don't really read that much Image, though.

Art is great but more gory than I care for. I'm totally about the double standard because I've probably drawn things more gory than what's on the page. It's more to do with context in most cases. Also, it's not a great idea to have multiple bad guys wearing similar costumes to the hero. I know that's the whole POINT behind this war: people will lose trust in Invincible... but, visually, it backfires on new readers. Maybe the coloring could have made the distinction more clear. Still, art is the saving grace on this issue.

Writing is on a disjointed fast forward that, again, is ambitious but ultimately a failing feature. The best scene is the scene between Invincible and Atom Eve in the beginning where he's asking to meet her parents. I bet this book rocks on character moments but this particular issue doesn't really DO that many of them.

If anything, this made me interested enough in the character to go reread the first trade. It's better now than it was then but I'm still not running down to the comic shop to pick up the second trade. Maybe if I find it discounted.

Invincible, you get a 6. Not brilliant at all. Not a good first issue for anyone. Still, above average enough that I wanted to read the first trade again.

I've never really been able to get into Invincible. Well, Robert Kirkman in general, actually. I can't say I've given Invincible more than a quick glance. I was recommended the first trade and told that I wouldn't be able to put it down and would devour the rest of the series but I never got that. It wasn't terrible, It wasn't awesome. There were some good scenes but there was also some sort of disconnect in the work that just didn't click with me. I always meant to give the second trade a try but it never really seemed that pressing.

So, I skip ahead to issue sixty. The good news is that I knew some of the characters from that first trade. The art has taken a massive step up. The story... meh. It's ambitious, that's for certain, but when your guest stars outnumber your page count, you're going to have trouble. Trouble there is a plenty. Many times I thought I must have skipped a page because events didn't flow into the next event at all. I still have no clue what motivated Invincible to act at the end. He went from being determined to be at his girl's side to all up in the bad guy's grill with no inbetween state (unless I actually DID skip a page). The guest stars are mostly page fillers and that's fine with me. I truthfully didn't know who were homegrown heroes and who were other Image characters in some instances. That's more because I don't really read that much Image, though.

Art is great but more gory than I care for. I'm totally about the double standard because I've probably drawn things more gory than what's on the page. It's more to do with context in most cases. Also, it's not a great idea to have multiple bad guys wearing similar costumes to the hero. I know that's the whole POINT behind this war: people will lose trust in Invincible... but, visually, it backfires on new readers. Maybe the coloring could have made the distinction more clear. Still, art is the saving grace on this issue.

Writing is on a disjointed fast forward that, again, is ambitious but ultimately a failing feature. The best scene is the scene between Invincible and Atom Eve in the beginning where he's asking to meet her parents. I bet this book rocks on character moments but this particular issue doesn't really DO that many of them.

If anything, this made me interested enough in the character to go reread the first trade. It's better now than it was then but I'm still not running down to the comic shop to pick up the second trade. Maybe if I find it discounted.

Invincible, you get a 6. Not brilliant at all. Not a good first issue for anyone. Still, above average enough that I wanted to read the first trade again.